| DFC's
Policy Reform Program studies and advocates changes in school
system structure and policy that foster improvements in school-level
educational quality and student achievement for all students.
This effort continues to draw on the effective practices for “systems
change” advocacy refined through DFC’s past research about
effective advocacy, as well as more recent research and experience
indicates the effects of educational policy reform in Chicago and
nationally. |
|
LSC
ASSISTANCE:
Principal Evaluation and Selection
At
least 200 Chicago principals may be hired or re-hired this year--ensure
that your LSC makes the most informed decision possible. DFC provides
free
assistance for LSC members about principal evaluation, retention,
and
selection.
POLICY
REFORM PUBLICATIONS:
Chicago
School Reform
Chicago's
Local School Councils: What the Research Says By
Donald R. Moore and Gail Merritt, January 2002
There is
a significant body of solid research about Chicago's Local School Councils
-- much of which contradicts prevailing opinions and stereotypes, which
also pinpoints weaknesses that must be addressed. DFC's recent report
briefly
summarizes this research.
Read or download a pdf file of the
report here
Read the report online
here
Changing
the Ground Rules
By Donald R. Moore, Ed.D.
This article, published in the July/August
2001 issue of Shelterforce magazine, describes the recent history
of school reform in Chicago.
Read
or download a copy of this article in pdf format
Grade
Retention
(Flunking & High-Stakes Testing)
In
1997, Chicago launched a nationally-watched program to "end social
promotion" by flunking thousands of students each year if they
didn't reach a minimum score on the Iowa Test in reading and math, after
they attended summer school.
Since
this strategy had repeatedly failed in other cities, Designs for Change
(1) asked a national expert (Dr. Ernest House) to comment on the likely
success of the Chicago program, (2) critiqued research that was subsequently
carried out about Chicago's grade retention program, and (3) carried
out our own analyses of Chicago's results. Read
or download Dr. House's paper here ("The Predictable Failure
of Chicago's Student Retention Program.")
Review
and download analyses of Chicago's student retention program by Designs
for Change and others:
Studies
Show that Chicago Grade Retention Program is a Failure—Comment
on two studies by the Consortium on Chicago School Research, "Ending
Social Promotion in Chicago: The Effects of Retention," and "Ending
Social Promotion: Dropout Rates in Chicago After Implementation of the
Eighth-Grade Promotion Gate"
Donald R. Moore,
April 2004
© Designs for Change
Read or download
the DFC Comment
on the studies in pdf format
Evidence
Mounts that Chicago's Grade Retention (Flunking) Policy is Failing—Study
of Chicago's Summer School Program for Students at Risk of Repeating
a Grade Shows No Significant Long-Term Achievement Benefits.
A
study released by the Consortium on Chicago School Research on March
13, 2003 shows no educationally-significant long-term benefit of Chicago's
high-stakes summer school for students at risk of retention -- even
for those students who attended summer school and then scored high enough
at the end of the summer to be promoted. Further, the study fails to
analyze the long-term impact of summer school on Chicago's retained
students, although the study's author has said elsewhere that the impact
of Chicago's policies on students who are retained after summer school
is "very decimating."
Donald
R. Moore,
March 2003
© Designs for Change
Read
the Designs for Change Comment on the study
"More
Chicago Pupils Flunk Grade," October 9, 2002: Education
Week article documenting an unexpected doubling of the number of students
retained in summer 2002, compared with the previous year. Retention
advocates had predicted a decline in the number of students retained
in successive years of the program. (Free registration is required to
read Education Week articles online.)
New
Data About Chicago's Grade Retention Program Provides Further Proof
That Neither Retention Nor Social Promotion Works —Research-Based
Alternatives to Both Retention and Social Promotion Should Be Carried
Out
Donald R. Moore,
September 2000
© Designs for Change
Read
or download a copy of this report in pdf format
Rejoinder to Ending Social Promotion:
Results from the First Two Years. Chicago's Grade Retention Program
Fails to Help Chicago's Retained Students—Better
Alternatives Exist to Chicago's Costly Mistake
Donald R. Moore,
December 1999
© Designs for Change
Read
or download a copy of this report in pdf format
Rethinking Retention to Help All Students Succeed:
A Resource Guide. 8 Strategies That Educate Our Children Effectively
Without Social Promotion Or Retention
Davenport, Delgado, Meisels, and Moore
© Designs for Change, November 1998
Read
or download a copy of this report in pdf format
The Predictable Failure of Chicago's Student Retention Program
by
Dr. Ernest R. House, Professor, School of Education, U of Colorado,
Boulder
November 1998
Read
or download a copy of this report in pdf format
Successful
Urban Schools
Rachel
Carson Elementary School: An Exemplary Urban School That Teaches Children
to Read
By Matthew R. Hanson and Donald R. Moore, September 2003
©
Designs for Change
An
in-depth research study that analyzes how Chicago's Carson Elementary
School has achieved exceptional student achievement results-- with a
special emphasis on how Carson teaches children to read.
Carson's 1,240 students are 99% low-income, and two-thirds of them speak
little or no English when they enter school. Yet in spring 2003, 68%
of Carson's eighth graders met or exceeded the national average on the
Iowa Reading Test, and 73% did the same in math.
Read or download a pdf file of the report
here
Read or download a pdf file of the report
summary here
Read or download a pdf file of the press release in English
or Spanish here
Chicago
Test Score Research Shows That School-Level Initiative Brings the Largest
Sustained Reading Gains: Evidence Indicates
the Need for "Phase Three" of Chicago School Reform
Donald R. Moore and Matthew Hanson, April 2001
© Designs for Change
Download
a copy of the report summary in pdf format
Download
a copy of the press release in pdf format
Download
a copy of the full report in pdf format
What
Makes These Schools Stand Out: Chicago Elementary
Schools With a Seven-Year Trend of Improved Reading Achievement
© Designs for
Change, November 1998
Download
a copy of the report summary in pdf format
Download
a copy of the complete report (177 pgs) in pdf format
©1998-2007
Designs
for Change.
All Rights Reserved.
